December, 1908. 



American Vee Journal 



Of their 5 apiaries in the fire district, 

 only 2 colonies were burned, which 

 Editor Hutchinson says "seems little 

 less than a miracle, and is the result of 

 constant watchfulness, terribly hard 

 fighting, 'back firing,' and a mixture of 

 what, at times, does seem like Muck.' " 



A lot of money was spent in getting 

 these 5 yards nicely located, cellars and 

 honey-houses built, and all was ready 

 for some money to be made, when at 

 one fell swoop the fire came down with 

 hca\'y if not complete loss of pasturage. 

 Mr. Hutchmson feels inclined to agree 

 with Mr. Coveyou. who thinks it would 

 have been better if the bees had been 

 burned up and the pasturage left; for 

 bees can easily be replaced, while a lot 

 of bees with no pasturage presents a 

 difiicult problem. 



Whether raspberry plants will spring 

 up again from the roots is a question 

 as the roots may be loo deeply burned' 

 tyen if new growth springs up, that 

 will do no good for the season of 1909 

 lor the canes that spring from the roots 

 one season do not blossom till the season 

 toUowing. 



Let us hope that in some unexpected 

 way good may spring out of what now 

 seems only evil. Just possibly that fol- 

 lower of fires— willow-herb— may spring 

 up m abundance with its honey of finest 

 quality. 



Age of Queens 



J. M. Ellis, says this in the British 

 Bee Journal: 



"By the way, it was noticeable that colo- 

 o veHow t,''\.;'°^ """"^^ "hether black 

 ,L ,1, • ^A 'hf. poorest returns. Possibly 

 the untoward conditions prevailing last year 

 qu^ns!"" "^"'''' *= upbringini of .Jose 



It seems a reasonable thing that 

 queens reared in a prosperous season 

 would be better than those reared when 

 little was doing in the way of gathering, 

 i he question also may be asked whether 

 Mr. Ellis will not find it a general rule 

 that queens in their first year do poorer 

 work than when older. If those 1007 

 queens were reared after the honey har- 

 vest was under way, as thev probably 

 were, the chief part of their work in 

 1905, so far as it would have any eeffct 

 on the current honey harvest, would be 

 before they were a year old. 



Formerly it was generslly held that a 

 queen did her best work in her srcnnd 

 year, and many still hold to that m. u. 

 Others, however, prefer younger qmcn^ 

 Possibly both are right, the difl'ercnce 

 being in the different strains of bees. 

 Suppose we have a strain of bees wliose 

 queens live to an average of 3 years. 

 It could easily be that the second year 

 of a queen of that strain should be' her 

 best; while queens averaging only 2 

 years of life would hardly be expected 

 to do so well in the second year as in 

 the first. 



The matter of longevity of bees is in 

 more ways than one a thing worth at- 

 tention. 



Bees as Weather Prophets 



An article in the Boston Traveler re- 

 garding the forecasts of the weather 

 made by dogs, cats, birds, etc., gives the 

 bee a high place as a weather prophet. 

 It says: 



"Insects, also, are very sensible of changes 

 of weather. The surest sign of rain is given 

 by bees. As soon as rain impends, they either 

 remain _ in their hives or fly out only to a 

 short distance." 



There is enough truth in that state- 

 ment to help it to make a very false 

 impression. Bees may remain in their 

 hives when rain impends, and for much 

 the same reason that they remain in 

 their hives as day closes ; simply be- 

 cause of the darkness. A sudden cloud- 

 ing up will send the bees scurrying home 

 at a lively rate, but that is ncr sure sign 

 of rain, for it may not rain at all. On 

 the other hand, they will often keep on 

 flying during quite a bit of a shower. 



Ventilation to Repress Swarmuig 



If there were any question as to the 

 swarming of a certain colony, one might 

 make pretty sure of it by giving a very 

 small entrance and allowing no other 

 opening for the admission of air. So 

 in order to limit swarming, at present 

 there is a tendency to larger openings as 

 entrances, also a tendency to a larger 

 space under the bottom-bars. Not only 

 this, but some think it wise to make pro- 

 vision for more or less ventilation in 

 each extracting-super. R. F. Holter- 

 mann says in Gleanings : 



"I have a 'A-inch by 5-inch opening for 

 ventilation in three-fourths of my extracting- 

 supers, which can be closed by means of a 

 slide. I find the ventilation given in this 

 way is a great comfort to the bees during 

 hot weather. During the time the bees are 

 gathering _ surplus honey there is no great 

 difficulty in keeping up the temperature of a 

 normal colony. I feel quite sure, backed up 

 by_ examination, that the bees are sometimes 

 driven out of portions of the hive and com- 

 pelled to remain idle, owing to excessive heat 

 or lack of ventilation in the hive. Shade and 

 a lo/rge entrance have, of course, an effect 

 similar to the super ventilation. However, I 

 like to be able to use all in combination." 



An easier way to provide ventilation 

 for colonies run for extracted honey is 

 simply to shove backward or forward 

 each story, so as to make a crack of 

 about 54 inch. There is probably little 

 question that ventilation thus provided 

 for each story goes a long way toward 

 the prevention of swarming. On a cool 



night such openings may be objection- 

 able, but this is overbalanced by their 

 benefit during the greater part of the 

 time. 



"Will not such openings be used by 

 the bees as entrances, making trouble 

 when they are closed?" One might 

 think so, but experience shows that the 

 bees rarely go in or out at such open- 

 ings. Having already established the 

 one place as the proper entrance, they 

 do not seem inclined to accept any new 

 opening offered later. 



"Will not so many openings invite 

 robber-bees?" If you were to make 

 some fresh opening at a time when rob- 

 bers are troublesome, you might be pret- 

 ty certain it would attract their atten- 

 tion. But the ventilation in question is 

 not given until a full flow is on, and 

 at such times robbers are not trouble- 

 some. Even it such openings are left 

 until all storing ceases, robbers seem 

 to consider them as the established or- 

 der, and do not seem to consider them 

 in the light as if they were freshly made. 



All this applies to the extracted-honey 

 business. With comb honey the case is 

 different. Make a large opening be- 

 tween two extracting-supers, and if the 

 bees will not seal the honey there it 

 makes little difference. Indeed if they 

 refuse to store at all at such large open- 

 ing, they can store elsewhere, and the 

 honey will be extracted all the same. 

 But it will not do to hinder the bees 

 from capping sections. Yet there are 

 even some producers of comb honey 

 who consider the advantages of a reas- 

 onable amount of such ventilation — at 

 least at certain times — to overbalance 

 their disadvantages. The lower super 

 is shoved forv/ard, allowing a quarter- 

 inch crack. This is supposed to allow 

 a passage of air through the brood- 

 chamber, but no such opening is made 

 between any 2 supers as in the case of 

 extracted honey. This opening, for 

 some reason, does not make nearly so 

 much difference early in the season as 

 it does later, so as the season advances 

 it is advisable to close the upper opening. 



^:';-Y-'tf!''-"-:^-->-'':'---*i'v 



•m^ 



Henus -Items 



Holiday Greetings 



Wc wish to each and all of our read- 

 ers a "Merry Christmas" and a "Happy 

 New Year." And may 1909 be the bright- 

 est and best of all your years thus far, is 

 our next wish. 



no doubt appreciate it fully. It means 

 a lot of work to prepare it, but it is 

 worth while, we think. 



Our Annual Index 



This will be found near the end of 

 this copy. It is a great list of apiarian 

 contributors and topics. To any one 

 wlio has preserved all the numbers of 

 the American Bee Journal for 1908 the 

 index will be very valuable. Such will 



Miller Tent-Escapes and Young Bees 



In Gleanings llie question was raised 

 whether there would not be loss of the 

 younger bees from the use of the Miller 

 tent-escape. Supers partly cleared of 

 bees are piled up, 5, 10, or more in a 

 pile, and the Miller escape is placed on 

 top. This escape is simply a robber- 

 cloth with a good-sized cone of wire- 

 cloth. The bees can come out freely at 

 the top, and the objection was raised 



